The chairman of the county commission in Lincoln County, North Carolina has a message for his non-Christian constituents–if you’re not a Christian, you won’t be allowed to give invocations at county commission meetings.
Earlier this week, a federal judge ruled that the commissioners in Rowan County, an exurban county northeast of Charlotte, won’t be allowed to open county commission meetings with sectarian prayer. That didn’t sit too well with Carrol Mitchem, the chairman of the county commission in Lincoln County, a suburban county northwest of Charlotte. He told the Lincoln Times-News that if a Muslim ever offered to give an invocation, “I’m going to tell them to leave.” Mitchem didn’t want non-Christians telling him who could pray at their meetings–and anyone who didn’t like it could “stay the hell away.” He contended that the ruling amounted to “changing the rules on the way the United States was founded, (the) Constitution was founded.”
Mitchem doubled down in an interview with WBTV in Charlotte. “I ain’t gonna have no new religion or pray to Allah or nothing like that,” he snapped. He added that anyone who didn’t want to hear a Christian prayer could leave the room and “wait until we’re done praying.” To Mitchem’s mind, telling non-Christians that their prayers won’t be welcome as invocations is more than appropriate since this country is a Christian nation.
“Other religions, or whatever, are in the minority. The U.S. was founded on Christianity,” Mitchem said. “I don’t believe we need to be bowing to the minorities. The U.S. and the Constitution were founded on Christianity. This is what the majority of people believe in and it’s what I’m standing up for.”
Fortunately, some of Mitchem’s colleagues on the all-Republican board aren’t as backwards as he is. Alex Patton told WBTV that Mitchem had “just exposed our county to potential litigation” which it would almost certainly lose. After all, what Mitchem is proposing would be a blatant First Amendment violation. In fact, it’s so blatant that the question won’t be whether the plaintiffs win, but how big a settlement they’d ultimately get. Commissioner Martin Oakes added that Rowan County lost its case because its invocations were restricted to the commissioners. In contrast, Lincoln County allows “any clergy who reside in Lincoln County” to give an invocation.
For his part, Mitchem says he’s only gotten two calls about his comments–both of which were supportive. That doesn’t make his comments any less embarrassing. He is now officially on record as saying that non-Christians won’t be considered equal in his county. AFter all, the Cliff Notes version of his statements is that non-Christians should just sit down and shut up when a Christian pastor or commissioner offers prayer. And yet, Mitchem and his ilk complain about Christians being oppressed? After reading this, I have to wonder who’s oppressing whom. Tell him what you think of his bigotry–but please, be civil. Email him at cmitchem at lincolncounty dot org.
